


Second Chances

by M_C_Crocker



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Website: HPFanficTalk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 15:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16915515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_C_Crocker/pseuds/M_C_Crocker
Summary: "I’m sorry.”“I’m not interested.”“I’m sorry!”“Save your breath.”This was his second chance and he wasn’t going to mess this up.





	Second Chances

“I’m sorry.”

 

“I’m not interested.”

 

“I’m sorry!”

 

“Save your breath.”*

 

Severus was desperate he couldn’t stand the cold eyes that Lily was giving him.  Anything.  He would do anything to have her forgiveness.  He didn’t mean it, he didn’t mean to call her a Mudblood.  He tried to explain tried to tell her this, but she wasn’t listening.   It was a word used in the heat of the moment he didn’t, and then Lily landed on the root of the problem ‘Death Eater.’   His gaping mouth snapped shut.

 

He had made his choice and she hers.  He tried for words to explain himself but they weren’t good enough, and she was walking away.  Something!  He had to say something before she was gone!  This was his only chance.

 

“I’ll change!”  His voice cracked the words hanging almost waiting to take flight.  Severus was sure that he was going to be met with failure and the end of the only good thing in his life as he stared at the back of the only girl he ever loved.

 

Then, as if in slow motion a side profile of Lily appeared, face framed by a sheet of red hair. Severus’ heart skipped a beat. 

 

“What?” came the skeptical voice of Lily her green eyes meeting his.  Save from turning back to look at him she didn’t move.  This meant one wrong word, and it was all over, and she would be gone.  This was his second chance, he couldn’t mess it up.

 

Severus made the motions of swallowing, but there was nothing to swallow as his mouth was suddenly devoid of moisture.  “What – what if I changed?”  His voice was weak and desperate.  He trod on thin ice, and this was a turning point for him and Lily, and he knew it.

 

The returned silence meant more was expected of him.  He desperately tried to grasp at straws to get an answer something that would allow him to keep Lily in his life.

 

“What If I chose a different way – didn’t do or become all of that?”

 

The offer left a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth but no so horrid as the idea of Lily not talking to him.

 

“You can’t just say it.  You have to mean it and prove it.”

 

“I will!”

 

Lily lowered her head.  “I wish I could believe Sev.”  There was sadness in Lily’s voice, Severus hated it but not as much as the ire she had been giving him before.

 

“If I prove it to you?”

 

“I want to see it first.”  With that Lily vanished into the portrait hole leaving Severus alone with the most significant decision of his life.  He had to show Lily that he could change and he would.  This was his second chance and he wasn’t going to mess this up.

**Author's Note:**

> *First lines are taken from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hardback first edition p. 675


End file.
